CIA Director defends Donald Trump's mental abilities

Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has come to US President Donald Trump's rescue, defending his mental abilities in the wake of a controversial book that expressed serious doubts about the President's ability to govern the nation. "Those statements are just absurd," CNN quoted Pompeo as saying on Sunday.

When he delivers information to Trump almost daily, the President engages with it and is an avid consumer of the CIA's work, Pompeo said. This is not the first time Pompeo has defended Trump. In past also, he has said about the US President that he is engaged with the intelligence in his briefings, and "part of Trump's preferred briefing method involves visual aids and 'killer graphics'.

"It's how you convey information," Pompeo said. "This President reads material that we provide to him. He listens closely to his daily briefing." Michael Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury" has stirred controversy and debate as its excerpts surfaced online ahead of its publication.

The White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called the book "complete fantasy" while an attorney for Trump sent a "cease and desist" threat to the book's author and publisher. On Saturday, Trump stirred things up on Twitter and in political circles by fully entering into the debate about his mental health and intelligence, touting himself as "a very stable genius" and "really smart".

When Pompeo was asked to comment on Trump's tweet where he called himself a "very stable genius" in his defence, the CIA Director said "he would not dignify the question with a response". "We're keeping America safe, and President Trump is completely capable of working alongside of us and leading us in that effort," Pompeo added.

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